WHILE most of the country wakes up and races to look under their tree on Christmas morning, some Dyfed-Powys Police officers were preparing for business as usual.

Colleagues across the force were on duty overnight and through the day to help keep our communities safe.

Force incident manager Inspector Dyfed Bolton, a father-of-two, rushed home to watch his children open their Christmas presents, before going to bed to catch up on his sleep.

“Hopefully I’ll get home in time to see if Santa has been,” he said before Christmas.

“If I’m lucky, they won’t have opened their presents before I get back, but they might have.

“Once they’ve seen what Father Christmas brought, I’ll have a few hours’ sleep and then get up to help with dinner.

“My wife is working Christmas afternoon and I’m back in for nights so we’ll only have a few hours together as a family.

“It is the nature of a frontline public service role, and our children understand that Mami and Dadi work a lot of shifts.”

There will be little time for celebrations, but Inspector Bolton said incident room staff will bring in treats to keep spirits up.

“Each of the codes looks after each other and will bring things in,” he said.

“The mood is quite jovial, but when a call comes in we go back into default mode.

“You do get serious incidents on Christmas Day and we are here to serve the public.

“If a response is needed, we are there to ensure they get it.”

Sergeant Hana Edwards spent Christmas Day at Aberystwyth Custody Suite, where she has worked for the past few months following two years in response.

She said before Christmas: “I’m hoping we don’t have any prisoners in on Christmas Day as that would be a miserable Christmas for them.

“If we do have anyone come into a cell, our role is to make sure they are well looked after during their time with us.

“We’re a bit like hoteliers really, but without the luxury surroundings and there won’t be any Christmas dinners on offer.”

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